Synopsis:

When Sneeze's plans to take his latest gadget to the annual Invention Convention are torpedoed by his parents AND they enroll him in a (yuck!) summer-school class, he is appalled. His best friend, Hiccup, has to join the class too, along with Goldie, the Vice-Principal's daughter, Pierre, the future-famous French pastry chef, Hayley, whose father owns the bankrupt Gadabout Golf minature golf course, and Ace, who's so cool he doesn't even have a last name.

For his first class project, Sneeze starts a list of ways to bug parents. It keeps growing until he hits upon a brillant plan -- a plan that will make him rich and famous, and enable him to attend the convention WITHOUT his parents - - because Sneeze was born to invent things!

Reviews:

"Wardlaw has written a funny story . . . [yet] the death of a parent, job insecurity, gifted children, teacher respect, true friendship, and even intellectual freedom all find play here. Children will turn the pages to see whether they've overlooked even one idea.

- Booklist

" . . . a fast, fun read. The humor and depth of the characters are reminiscent of Louis Sachar's THERE'S A BOY IN THE GIRLS, BATHROOM. Readers will hope for futher adventures of Sneeze and his friends.

-School Library Journal

" . . . grab this one instead of the remote when you want good-natured entertainment blissfully devoid of commercials.

- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"The title will hook readers, and the ending will satisfy them, while the real list of 101 ways to bug parents that closes the book is likely to elicit guffaws.

- Kirkus Reviews

"Snappy dialogue, believable, likable characters and a great list at the back of the book make this an appealing choice..."

- American Bookseller

To read a fun review and interview about 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents and Lee Wardlaw,
click "Fun and Mischief with Lee Wardlaw", by Julia Durango.

 The Story Behind the Story

The idea for this book came from an article I read in my hometown newspaper a few years ago. The article was called "101 Ways to Bug Your Parents," and told the story of a local teacher who gave her 4th grade students a unique journal writing assignment: Write about ten things you've done that have really bugged your parents.

Immediately the kids started scribbling furiously, and at the end of only 15 minutes, they had hundreds of ideas! The class then compiled 101 of their favorites, and wrote them on the blackboard. A teacher's aide thought the list was funny, and sent it into the newspaper, which published it the following week. . . where I read it and instantly thought: What a great idea!

Of course, no matter how great an idea is, it's not enough to make a great book. I had a title - - 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents - - but no story. So the first thing I did was arrange to meet the teacher and the kids who'd written the list.

I found out from them that the teacher, Nancy Revlin, had been scared to death that she was going to get into trouble. Seems that the newspaper received dozens of letters from parents and one ex-principal, saying things like: "What a terrible assignment! Is this what our schools are coming to today? This teacher should be fired! Parents have enough trouble raising children without you giving them assignments like this!" and blah, blah, blah.

Poor Mrs. Revlin. This was her first year as teacher, and she was really afraid that she'd get fired. But her principal laughed it off. He understood she had given the assignment in fun, and that the list wasn't hurting anybody - - except maybe a few parents who were getting bugged a little more than usual.

But the complaints Mrs. Revlin received started me thinking and playing my favorite writing game: WHAT IF? What if the teacher HAD gotten into trouble? What if one of her students had turned the writing assignment into an entire book called 101 WAYS TO BUG YOUR PARENTS? What if he started selling it on school property, causing a public outcry against him and the teacher? What if the main theme of this story was more than just a few kids being obnoxious toward their parents, but one of intellectual freedom? What would happen then????

The rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, before I could go any further, I needed a great cast of characters. And that's where my own life came into play . . .

Hiccup Denardo, the best friend in the book, is based on my quirky affliction of getting hiccups often and LOUD. So loud, I'm surprised you haven't heard them all the way from my home in California.

Hayley Barker, the cool girl in the story, is also based on me, because when I was growing up, I LOVED to play miniature golf as much as she does. In fact, my friends and I used to hang out on weekends at a run-down miniature golfcourse that eventually went bankrupt. It served as the model for GADABOUT GOLF in my novel.

Last, but not least, there's Steve Wyatt, better known as Sneeze, the main character in my book. Sneeze is based on me in two ways: first he's allergic to practically everything in the world, and sneezes about 147 times a day. That's me to a T. (Achoo!)

Aside from being a sneeze-a-holic, Sneeze is also addicted to inventing. He loves to invent stuff - - the wackier the better. I got the idea for that from a newspaper article I read about a 10-year-old boy who won a college scholarship for inventing the world's first glow-in-the-dark toilet seat . . . a device he created to keep his parents from falling into the you-know-what when they got up in the middle of the night.

Sneeze's inventiveness is also based on me. No, I haven't invented a glow-in-the-dark toilet seat, or a Keep Kool Baseball Kap, or a bubble gum that never loses its flavor.

But I AM an inventor of stories . . . and the passion and pleasure Sneeze has for his crazy creations is exactly how I feel about writing. Sneeze sums it up this way at the end of the book: "Inventing is who I am, and who I want to be. Always. Sure, making money, being famous and all that stuff is nice. But it's just icing on the cake. Doing something because you enjoy it, because you believe in it, because it's RIGHT - - that's what counts."

That's what it feels like to be an author. Yes, I'm a mother, and a teacher, and a wife . . . but I'm also a writer. I've been a writer since I was seven years old. I enjoy writing more than any other job I've ever had . . . and getting to live and work as a writer is a dream come true. . .